A new "people's army"? How the Greens could be set to become the new Ukip

While much of today's media coverage has been focused on Ukip's victory in the Rochester and Strood by-election the "peoples army" are not the only ones on the march.

The Green Party has been creeping up in the polls and is now posing to a major threat to Ed Miliband's left flank in England. The party now regular poll is the region of six per cent.

Polling company YouGov's most recent survey on the Greens suggests they could see their popularity rise even further. Carried for the Times' Red Box, the poll asked participants "If candidates from the following parties were standing in your constituency and had a chance of winning, how likely would you be to vote for them?".

The Greens scored 26 per cent ahead of both Ukip and the Greens. However, the problem facing the party's leader Natalie Bennett is that while the Greens may be popular among a large section of the population people don't believe they are capable of winning in their constituency.

The Greens currently have one MP Caroline Lucas, who represents the Brighton and Hove constituency. The Green party was furious at the decision of the country's biggest broadcasters to not invite Natalie Bennett to take part in the leaders debate during the general election campaign.

Ukip will take part in one of the debates, which will be produced and broadcast by ITV. The Greens have stuggled to get their message across thanks to their lack of media coverage relative to other parties.

That state of affairs may now be in decline but the Greens will still struggle to get a hearing if Ukip continues to win elections and maintain a strong position in the polls.